


Baby It's Cold Outside

by that_is_shocking



Series: Unusual Occurrences [4]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged Down Characters, Aged up characters, Angst, Drowning, Hockey, Ice Skating, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:15:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23465275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_is_shocking/pseuds/that_is_shocking
Summary: "This is a really bad idea."Jisung rolled his eyes. "You think everything is a bad idea. We're just going skating."Seungmin still didn't look convinced. He opened his mouth but was interrupted by Jeongin jumping up and down."I can't wait for the hockey season to start! And I can't wait to get skating!""The pond Chan and I found in the woods is so cool, you guys are going to love it." Felix added, grabbing his skates.Jisung turned back to Seungmin, and raised an eyebrow."see? We're gonna have a great time!"Seungmin accepted the skates from Jisung, and glanced around at the snowy trees around them."I still think it's a bad idea."not horror, but like.. it still gets put in this series
Series: Unusual Occurrences [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670935
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Baby It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

> oof see the end of the chapter for TWs

“This is a really bad idea.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes and threw the car into park. 

“Everything we do is a bad idea to you Seungmin.” Jeongin whined, “We’re just gonna go ice skating!” 

“Yeah, and it’s gonna be dark, and cold… I just think we should go to like a cafe instead!”

Glancing in the rear view mirror, Jisung made eye contact with Hyunjin who stuck his tongue out. 

Borrowing Minho’s mom van so that he and his friends could go ice skating on a pond that Felix had stumbled across when Chan took him snowshoeing was… normal for this friend group. 

Minho was always grumpy in the morning when he realized they had gone out again, but at least they weren’t out doing drugs or some shit. Minho should be GLAD that Jisung only borrowed the van to take them to the arcade, or a drive through movie theater, or somewhere fun in the woods. 

He was such a mom sometimes it felt like he was smothering Jisung. 

Jisung was shaken out of his musings by Felix opening the passenger door, cutting off the music. He stretched, groaning as something in his back popped. 

“You guys ready for a bit of a trek?” He called, as Jeongin crawled over Seungmin to get out of the van. 

Hyunjin whooped, stepping out onto the packed snow of the parking lot. 

The sun hadn’t set yet, and Jisung unbuckled his seatbelt and hauled himself out of the van. 

He could feel the cold, but the gold evening sun across his cheekbones made him grin. 

“Hell yeah am I ready.” He crowed, pushing the door closed with his hip. “Come get your skates nerds.” 

Even Seungmin followed reluctantly to the back of the van as Jisung hummed, feeling around for the latch to open the hatch up. 

Jeongin snagged his beat up skates, and slung them around his neck. 

Felix was next, carefully putting them around his own neck. They were new, a gift from his older brother Chan for the upcoming hockey season. Felix treated them very nicely, despite the fact that they were gonna get trashed playing on the little pond next to Jeongin’s house. 

This pond though that Felix had found, was supposed to be big, and clear of snow. Thick ice too, from what Felix and Chan had tested. 

Hyunjin took his skates, and popped off a blade guard to start a swordfight with Jeongin. 

Hyunjin was a figure skater, which made him a little weird, but Jisung didn’t have anything against figure skaters, they were just… well, figure skaters. 

Him, Felix, and Jeongin were hockey kids, Hyunjin was a figure skater, and Seungmin was a normie. 

“Hey Min, here. I grabbed Minho’s old figure skating skates, cuz he said that it’s easier for someone who doesn’t skate to use figure skates.” Jisung called, holding out the skates, the laces tied together so Seungmin could sling them around his neck. 

“Thanks.” Seungmin muttered, looking pensively at the snow piled around the parking lot. “How are we supposed to get there?” 

Felix, who had wandered back to the van shrugged. “It was like a thirty minute walk from here? I think?” 

Seungmin grimaced, and Jisung sighed. 

“Listen, party pooper. We’re gonna have a blast. Plus, you don’t have to really work hard, I brought a sled for you.” 

Jisung pulled out the red plastic sled, making Felix cackle. 

“I am willing to haul your grumpy ass out there so we can have a good time.” Jisung announced. “Now, let’s get suited up, and roll out.” 

Seungmin sighed, and accepted the sled. He dropped it on the ground, and put his borrowed skates into it. 

A few minutes later, they all had boots, and snow pants on. Jeongin had pulled on a ridiculous looking hat with ear flaps, and Seungmin had a scarf covering all but his eyes. 

The sun was getting lower, and even though they were planning to skate by the light of the moon and stuff, Jisung did not want to hike to the pond in the dark. 

Finding Chan and Felix’s trail was easy. It hadn’t snowed for a few days, so the tracks were clear in the snow. 

Felix led the way, then Hyunjin and Jeongin following him. Then at the end was Jisung and the red sled, with a still anxious Seungmin on it. 

“Jesus this is pretty.” Hyunjin called as they hiked through the woods, the setting sun turning the snow pink and orange and red. 

Jisung easily snagged Hyunjin’s dropped glove as he tugged it off so he could take a few pictures. 

“Are you gonna send those pictures to Daehwi?” Seungmin called from the sled, making Jeongin giggle. 

Hyunjin hummed, and nodded. “He’ll probably like these pictures, and maybe he’ll send me a picture of his older brother’s dog in return.” 

Felix stumbled a little as his foot punched through a soft spot in the snow. He rolled his shoulders as Jisung passed Hyunjin’s glove back up. 

“How much farther do you think it is?” Jeongin asked, bouncing a little. “I wanna skate.” 

“I think it’s up here somewhere.” Felix huffed, adjusting his hat. “We’re still on Chan and I’s path, so it’s not far.” 

Jeongin nodded, and bounced around a little more as the group began to move again. 

The conversation dropped off as they trudged through the snow. The sun had sunk even further now, and the chill was setting back in. Jisung was warm though, lugging Seungmin through the snow was a good workout. 

He let his mind wander to the upcoming hockey season as the walking became monotonous. Maybe this year he would get captain, now that Lee Jeno had finally chosen between basketball and hockey. Sure, Jeno was a good player, but everyone could see that his heart was more in basketball. He probably only did hockey, because that’s what his older brother Jaehyun had gotten a college scholarship for. 

Jaehyun was… he was a legend in the little town. Straight As, straight teeth, perfect face, and an excellent hockey captain. He had taken the little hockey team all the way up to nationals his senior year, and even though they didn’t win, they came back practically heroes. 

Jisung wanted to be a captain like that, and this year, things were looking good. Especially because Jeongin was finally old enough to play on the high school team. Ever since a freshman three years ago had broken his neck during one of the first games of the season, Coach Jinyoung only let sophomores and up play, and Jeongin was a beast on the ice. 

He was fast, and coordinated, and Jisung honestly thought he was better than some of the older players. 

If Jisung was made captain, Jeongin was definitely getting a good spot, and a good number. He’d have to fight Rocky for it, and maybe Choi Jongho, but there was a good possibility that Jisung was gonna come out on top. But he was a junior, so that might lower his chances. 

Jaehyun though, he was a junior too. He was captain sophomore, Junior and Senior year. His freshman year, Han Sanghyuk had been captain, and Jisung totally didn’t steal all of Minho’s high school yearbooks so he could look through the pictures of the hockey team. Jaehyun’s junior year was rough though, so Jisung really didn’t have a good base to go off of. That was the year that a freshman on the hockey team had broken his neck and died, and it had just thrown the entire season off. It was honestly the worst the team had done in a while. 

Minho had pointed the kid out to Jisung, one day when he had gotten caught poring over the hockey team pictures. 

_ “That’s him, right there. I knew him, just a little.”  _

Minho had gotten all stiff after that though, so Jisung couldn’t ask him any more questions, but it’s not like he had to, everyone knew what had happened. 

Seo Changbin was a good hockey player, good for a freshman, but that had ended pretty quick. 

That’s also one of the reasons that Coach Jinyoung always tells them not to duck if they’re getting checked, or hitting the boards. 

Jisung blinked when he realized his musings about hockey, and how fucking great Lee Jaehyun was had taken a little bit of a dark turn. He just couldn’t help imagining though, second game of the season, against their rival school nonetheless, and a kid breaks his neck and dies on the ice. He just got checked, and didn’t get back up. 

Hopefully if Jisung manages to get captain, nothing like that will happen this season. 

Up ahead, Felix groaned in frustration. 

“What’s wrong?” Seungmin called, shifting around a little on the sled. “Are we lost?” 

Looking down, Jisung’s heart spiked a little when he realized that Felix had been going through fresh, untracked snow. 

“We’re not lost.” Hyunjin huffed. “We could just follow our tracks back. Felix just happened to misplace an entire pond.” 

“I didn’t misplace it!” Felix whined, peering through the trees. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and left them with a cool blue dusk. 

But judging by how bright it still was, when they got to the pond, the moon would be more than enough to skate by. Well, if they ever got to the pond. 

“It was up here somewhere.” Felix muttered. “I swear I recognize this place.” 

Jeongin groaned dramatically, and Jisung huffed out a laugh. 

“Come on! I want to skaaattee!” Jeongin cried, making Seungmin and Hyunjin giggle. 

Felix sighed, and rubbed a gloved hand over his nose. 

“I think we’re close.” He announced, and the little group kept trekking forward. Jisung sniffed, it was getting a little colder and his nose was starting to run. 

Luckily enough, the coat he had snagged was one of Minho’s and Minho was always prepared. 

Jisung was also always prepared, just for different things. Where Minho would have tissues, advil, and maybe a bandaid or two, Jisung would have spoons, and free sandwich cards, and maybe his fancy pocket knife. 

Jisung supposed they probably got it from their older brother, who was long since in college. Brian was a good guy, but he was already eleven when Jisung was born. There wasn’t much room to interact, Jisung just used to follow him around like a starstruck squirrel. 

Minho was only three years older, so Jisung had a lot more memories with him. 

Brian didn’t even come home for thanksgiving these days. He didn’t come for Minho’s graduation, or when Dad slipped and fell on ice and dislocated his shoulder when Jisung was seven, and Minho was ten. 

Well, it didn’t matter. Dad had always said that Brian was a speed skater for a little while, because duh. The entire town revolved around skating and the winter season. But Brian had quit when he was thirteen to do music, and now apparently he was in a band. Maybe he’d come home though if Jisung managed to get hockey team captain. That would be nice, even if he hadn’t come home for anything important before. 

Felix also had two older brothers, although the oldest one had been sent off to LA with Felix’s mom instead of Australia like Felix and Chris had when their parents split. Jisung had never met him, but from what Chan said, he was nice, but didn’t really care about Felix and Chan’s dad much. 

For an aussie though, Felix was a  _ mean  _ skater. He took to it like a duck to water, and Jisung was glad. Seungmin was his only close friend that didn’t skate, and he made up for it by coming to a lot of the games, and then when Hyunjin had competitions, they all went to support him, even Jeongin who thought figure skating was lame. 

Seungmin had an older brother, Wonpil, but he was a lot older, and took care of Seungmin and Seungmin’s grandma. He had a nice sandwich shop though, and every now and then Jisung managed to whine a few free sandwich coupons out of him. 

Jeongin and Hyunjin were both only children, so they didn’t understand the struggle of having older siblings, but that was okay. Jeongin acted like a bratty younger brother to Hyunjin, so they probably got it just a little. 

“Oh come on Felix, is it up here at all? Or did you just imagine it?!” Hyunjin groaned, knocking Jisung back out of his mind. Dang could it wander when he was doing something mindless like trekking through the snow. 

Felix stopped, making the rest of the group stumble to a halt too. Seungmin huffed as the sled bumped Jisung’s ankles. 

“I really did see it, maybe we turned at the wrong spot?” Felix muttered, turning around, and trying to see into the trees. 

Dusk was fading fast, but the moon was big and bright, so it was gonna stay pretty light. 

“Let’s just go for a few more minutes, and if we don’t see Felix’s pond, then we’ll head back to the trail. We could always just go skate at the center, I’ve still got a key from Mr. Sungjin that I think will let us in.” Jisung called, patting his pocket to make sure that the keyring he had was there. If it wasn’t, they could always just stop back at his house and deal with a cranky Minho for a few minutes before booking it to the closest rink. 

“Yeah but the rink is so lame.” Jeongin whined, rocking a little on the balls of his feet. His skates clinked around a little, and Jisung sighed. 

“Just a few more minutes.” Hyunjin agreed. “Then we’re turning around. I can’t skate if i’m frozen solid.” 

Felix nodded, turning forward again. 

“I swear it was in here somewhere. We turned where Chan and I had, even if we’re in new snow now.” 

Then, he started forward determinedly, making the little group lurch into action as well. 

“Do you really still have a rink key?” Seungmin asked, the first thing he had said in a while, making Jisung jump a little. He had almost forgotten that he was back there. 

Jisung nodded proudly. “I do. He never asked for it back after summer was over and I stopped having to be a lifeguard.” 

Seungmin hummed, shifting around a little, making the sled jerk and Jisung stumble. 

“Are you gonna try to be a lifeguard again this summer?” 

Ahead of them, Jeongin groaned. 

“Don’t talk about summer yet! Winter’s barely started!”

Jisung and Seungmin ignored him. 

“I think so. I might try to get a job at something like the skate counter, or something new. I don’t wanna be at the pool, I’d really rather stay at the summer rink.” 

“God I’m looking forward to figure camp.” Hyunjin muttered. “They’ve already sent the schedule out, and I’ve got entire days to myself at the rink with Coach.” 

Jisung stuck his tongue out at Hyunjin. 

“Not all of us are figure skaters, we have to deal with rollerblading and shitty group camps. Keep your privilege to yourself.” 

Felix snorted. “If you get a job at the skate counter, you’ll have to deal with privilege all day. There’s plenty of mommies who send their little darlings to hockey camp at the rink just to have their kids whine and cry about how they don’t want to go.” 

“And you’ll have to deal with the other skate counter workers too. Maybe even Mr. Sungjin himself!” 

The sled crunched over the snow, and Seungmin groaned dramatically. 

Jisung rolled his eyes. Those were petty problems. 

“I actually  _ like  _ Mr. Sungjin. Plus, I heard Lee Jaehyun was coming back for the summer, and he might be working there too.” 

Up ahead of him, Felix whistled. 

“Wow, your hero in the flesh, are you sure you won’t just spontaneously combust?” Hyunjin piped up, making Felix cackle. 

“Yeah Sung, your cute little man crush is gonna be on display all day every day, you might melt!” 

Jisung paused to bend down and grab a handful of snow. He lobbed it over Jeongin and Hyunjin, still missing Felix, but his point was made. 

“I just really respect him as a skater! It’s not a crush!” 

Everyone started to make kissy sounds, and Jisung put his gloved hands up to his ears to block it out. 

It really wasn’t a crush, maybe. Jisung didn’t really know, he just thought Jaehyun was amazing, and with good cause too! He was such a good skater, and a leader, and Jisung could only  _ dream _ of being like him one day. Maybe he’d even get to play hockey in college, just like Jaehyun decided to do. 

Minho had rolled his eyes when Jisung had gushed about Jaehyun, but his older brother didn’t understand. Minho could have been an AWESOME figure skater, but he had quit so he could go to community college for an  _ english _ degree. Who even got english degrees?! 

That didn’t matter though, because up ahead in the trees, Jisung could see the familiar glint of ice. 

He blinked to make sure it wasn’t a desperation hallucination, and then he grinned. 

“Hey Lix!” He called, happy to change the subject away from Jaehyun and summer. “Is that your pond up there?” 

Felix’s head shot up, and Jeongin let out a cheer. 

“Finally!” Hyunjin crowed as the group surged forward, ready to be on the ice. 

They arrived at the pond a few moments later, panting slightly, and all smiling wide. 

Then, Felix paused. 

“This isn’t my pond.” He announced, turning around. “Chan and I found one that was shaped like some kind of bean. This one is much bigger and wider.” 

At that, the joy died down a little. Everyone knew that you just didn’t go out on random ponds and expect them to be solid. Too many people had drowned for that not to be a lesson drilled into everyone’s heads. 

“Well, can we still skate on it?” Jeongin asked hesitantly. 

Jisung stepped forward, and carefully stepped onto the ice near the shore. There weren’t even any cattails on this pond, the ice clear and dark. 

“It's solid at the edges.” Jisung announced, crouching down to look at the ice. “And I think I can see skate marks.” 

Jeongin hesitantly joined him on the ice. “What about the middle?” His voice was quiet. 

“Send Seungmin in the sled to see.” Hyunjin suggested. “His weight’ll be spread around if he lays on it, and the sled will help.” 

The group turned to Seungmin, who had gotten out of the sled, and was standing with it propped up against his chest. 

“No!” Seungmin exclaimed. “Absolutely not! That’s a terrible idea!” 

Jisung shrugged. “We need to test the middle before we get our skates on. Someone has to do it.” 

Felix stretched, and then raised his hand. “I’ll do it if you don’t want to Min.” 

Seungmin opened his mouth to oppose, but Jeongin had already snatched the sled and thrust it towards Felix. 

“I’m going to die if I can’t get my skates on soon.” The youngest announced to the group. “If Felix doesn’t go, then I’m going.” 

So that was how the group found themselves, crouched at the edge of the wide pond as Felix carefully prodded the ice, lying on his stomach in the sled. 

They watched with bated breath as Felix sat up, and then after a few moments, stood up, feet spread apart as he tested the ice. 

“I think we’re good!” He called back, grinning. “I can see skate tracks!” 

Jeongin gasped, and immediately flopped out onto the ice, pulling his boots off and unlacing his skates. 

Felix stepped out of the sled, and hurried back to the pond’s edge to join the group in their frantic boot changing. 

Jisung easily slid his worn skates on, and then crouched down to help Seungmin put his on. 

He hummed as he helped the other tie the laces, and make sure the skates felt nice. 

There was a tiny little Kang Minho carved into the leather, near the heel that Jisung ran his fingers over briefly. 

“Too tight?” He asked as Seungmin fidgeted, looking a little apprehensive as Jeongin and Felix raced around the pond, skates already on. 

Hyunjin skated lazy loops, waiting for Jisung and Seungmin to join him. 

“They just feel a little weird.” Seungmin muttered, letting Jisung pull him up to standing. “I still don’t think we should be doing this.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes, and took Seungmin’s arm, guiding him out further onto the ice. 

Hyunjin swooped in to steal Seungmin, and Jisung was left looking out around the pond at his friends. 

They were having fun, only taking up about a quarter of the pond. It really was big, and Jisung was surprised that no one on the hockey team had said anything about it. There were definite skate tracks on the ice, criss crossing every now and then, but this wasn’t a well known pond. 

The forest around it was dark, but the pond itself was lit up by the light coming from the moon. Dusk had faded out, leaving them with the gorgeous lovely silver light. 

They had specifically chosen this night to go skating because of how big the moon was going to be, and how bright. It was going to be like daylight, and Jisung was so excited. 

He shook his shoulders out, and skated out to chase Jeongin around. 

That easily started a game of tag, with Seungmin exempt due to still being very wobbly on skates. 

Jisung chased Hyunjin, who darted across the ice. Felix and Jeongin tried their best to stay out of the way, but Jisung quickly changed directions to chase after Felix. 

Pushing himself just a little harder, his hand collided with Felix’s back, and sent both of them sprawling on the ice. Jisung slid into Seungmin’s legs, which also brought him down with a squeak. 

“Fucking got you Bang.” Jisung panted, pushing Seungmin off of him. “You’re it.” 

Felix flopped back down with a huff, and Jeongin slid into the pile, throwing himself over Felix. 

“I wanna see Hyunjin skate for a little bit.” He announced, and Jisung nodded, head spinning a little from the exertion. 

He pulled himself into a sitting position, and hauled Seungmin up as well. 

Hyunjin pouted at them from across the ice, but he blew kisses as Felix and Jeongin began to clap and cheer. 

“Come on Hwang!” Jeongin shouted. “Show us the good stuff!” 

Hyunjin skated around a little bit, showing off fancy footwork, to the applause of the four other friends. The ice shifted a little around them, making everyone pause, but the ice making sounds, especially on big ponds like this was normal. 

Jisng knew that the groaning sounds were safe sounds, and if it started making sharper sounds, then that was the time to get off the ice. 

“Do some jumps!” Seungmin requested, making Hyunjin huff. 

“You’re just like Coach Ten.” He groused, but set up for a jump. 

Jisung loved watching figure skaters skate, sure figure skating was less awesome than hockey, but figure skaters could jump, and just look so graceful on the ice. 

The jump Hyunjin did was clean, and as soon as his blade hit the ice again, Jisung whooped. 

“Ten out of ten!” Jeongin shouted. “Hwang Hyunjin takes olympic gold!” 

“That’s not how figure skating is scored.” Hyunjin called back, panting a little. “Not even close!” 

“Doesn’t fucking matter!” Felix crowed, and Jisung could practically see Hyunjin blush a little. The sliver of the ice made every move he made seem so much more graceful and dancer-ly. 

Hyunjin was good at being dancer-ly. Jisung could only channel beast-ish, never ever dancer-ly. That was figure skaters only. 

“Another! Another!” Seungmin called out, grinning wide. Hyunjin bowed, and began setting up for another jump. 

Jisung glanced over, and elbowed Seungmin in the ribs. 

“Having fun?” He teased, making Seungmin pout. “Come on, admit it, this was a great idea.” 

Hyunjin jumped again, making Jeongin screech and flail around. 

Seungmin sighed, and leaned a little into Jisung. “Okay. I’ll admit it. This is fun.” 

Jisung grinned in triumph. He slung an arm around Seungmin, and dragged Jeongin closer. 

“You should skate with us more Min.” He announced as Jeongin pulled Felix into the close line. 

“Anything else you wanna see?” Hyunjin called, skating forward a little. 

Suddenly, the ice made a sharp cracking sound, and Hyunjin froze. 

Seungmin could feel Jisung tense. He turned towards the three hockey players slowly. 

“Guys?” He whispered, as Hyunjin inched a little closer. 

“Don’t move.” Jisung hissed. “That was a bad sound, and we gotta get off the ice.” 

Seungmin sucked in a breath, and then slowly let it out, shaking a little. 

Jisung nodded, and turned towards Jeongin and Felix, who were also sitting statue still. 

“Felix, can you see any cracks?” He asked, looking around carefully.

Felix gulped, and nodded. “I see a few.” 

Seungmin began to breathe harder, and Jisung looked up at him. 

“W-why is the ice n-not safe now?” He asked, voice high and reedy. 

Jisung took a deep breath to calm down, and smiled at Seungmin. 

“I think it was all of us in one spot. Felix’s weighing us down with his fat ass.” 

“Hey!” Felix whined, but the ploy to get Seungmin to calm down worked, with Seungmin giggling a little. 

“What do we do?” Jeongin asked, a warm presence against Jisung’s right arm. 

That made Jisung pause. It had been so fucking long since he got the thin ice lecture. The last time was… maybe when Eric fell through at the pond next to the school and Coach Jinyoung had to fish him out? Or when Minho had been on the pond next to Jeongin’s house, and fell through up to his knees? But it had been so long! Like, last year or the year before even! 

Jisung scrunched his face up and tried to remember. He could see a soggy Coach Jinyoung with Nurse Naeyon’s blanket wrapped around his shoulders. 

_ “Never… thin ice… get off… weight distribution…”  _ He could barely recall the conversation, too busy giggling with the rest of the team about how Coach Jinyoung looked like a drowned rat. 

“Weight distribution.” He announced. “We gotta spread the weight out.” 

Hyunjin, about twenty feet away looked uncertain. 

“Do you need me to get the sled or something?” he called, looking scared. 

Jisung glanced up at him, and then shook his head. 

“Get off the ice.” He called back, making Hyunjin shake his head vehemently. 

“I’m not gonna leave you guys!” 

Jisung rolled his eyes. “Jinnie! We’re gonna be fine. If the ice is cracking, the rest of it’s bad too. You gotta go back to the edge.” 

Hyunjin nodded, and began to slowly make his way back to the shore. 

Jisung sucked in a breath, his heart pounding. It was going to be  _ fine.  _ They’d get back to the edge, and then they’d go back home, and maybe they could tell Minho about it in a few years. He’d never let Jisung skate by himself again if he told him tomorrow that they’d been on bad ice the night before. 

“Okay.” He announced. “Felix, I think you gotta lay down, and like, crawl away.” Jisung instructed, and Jeongin nodded.

“That sounds right.” The youngest confirmed, and Felix drew in a deep breath. 

“We’re gonna go from the edges, so after Felix, it’s you Seungmin.” Jisung murmured, turning carefully to look at Seungmin, who looked pale in the moonlight. 

Felix was a starfish now, slowly crawling away from the group. 

He was about five feet away when Jisung nodded for Seungmin to lie down. 

As Seungmin moved, the horrible cracking sounds went off again like gunshots. 

Seungmin froze, and sucked in a breath. He looked at Jisung with wild eyes, and Jisung tried to look reassuring. 

“It’s okay-” He started, but then the ice he was sitting on disappeared from under him. 

There was a shout, and then Jisung was underwater. Seungmin looked up at him, bubbles circling his face like a halo. 

A muffled scream came from above, and Jisung struggled to get up to the surface. 

His skates weighed him down. Everything weighed him down, and Jisung looked up desperately, fighting to at least get a little higher. 

Jeongin’s blurry face hovered a few feet up, and Jisung realized he was still sinking. 

He fought his gloves off, and tried to kick, but his skates made it so hard. 

Jeongin’s hand thrust into the water, reaching out for him to grab onto, and then it was gone. Yanked out by another big dark shape above. 

_ That’s good. I wouldn’t want to pull someone else in.  _ Jisung thought, still trying to climb back to the surface, when he realized that Seungmin wasn’t with him. 

His lungs were starting to burn, both from the cold, and from the lack of air. 

Jisung looked down. 

Seungmin was struggling weakly, panic flashing on his face, a hand clutched over his mouth as his skates and heavy snow clothes dragged him down into the dark water. 

Jisung took one look up at the surface, and the blurry moon, and then shook his head, trying to keep the dark out of his vision. 

Seungmin was gonna drown if Jisung didn’t help him. 

Making the choice was easy, and Jisung thrashed through the water towards the other boy, who was still kicking weakly. 

He reached out to Jisung, a big burst of bubbles coming out around his hand still clapped over his mouth and nose. 

Deep in his mind, Jisung remembered a harried and dripping Coach Jinyoung sitting on the bleachers in the school gym. The basketball players were huddled at the other end, looking scared. 

_ “It only takes sixty seconds to drown”  _ He announced, accepting a mug of something steaming from Nurse Nayeon. 

And then Jisung was back in the present. 

How long had he been under?! 

His fingers brushed Seungmin’s and Jisung grit his teeth. Seungmin had even less time, if the panic that Jisung could see was something like a panic attack, or shock. 

Everything felt heavy. His arms, his legs, his feet. Even his eyelids. 

Jisung fought it. He had to get Seungmin back up to the surface. He  _ had  _ to. 

Everything was dark down in the water. The bottom was nowhere in sight, and Jisung could feel tongues of flame enveloping his lungs. 

_ Don’t breathe in _ . He told himself, frantic panic beginning to cover him as well.  _ Don’t breathe in don’t breathe in don’t breathe in. _

Seungmin was limp as Jisung fought for a good grip on the other boy’s sleeve. 

The hat that had sat on Seungmin’s head was floating down, disappearing into the black water, and Jisung clenched his teeth. 

He kicked, and they moved up a little, making Jisung try to work harder. 

His vision was getting even more spotty as his lungs screamed for air. 

_ DON’T BREATHE IN.  _

He could do it, Jisung struggled, feeling colder and heavier. He could do it. He didn’t need to breathe, oh god he needed to breathe. 

Jisung opened his mouth, to relieve some of the pressure building inside him, and immediately choked on water. 

Seungmin’s hand slipped from his grasp, and Jisung thrashed, trying to catch it as Seungmin sunk. 

There was water in his lungs, Jisung was coughing, trying to get it out but that just made more and more come in- fuck- 

He looked up again, and found he couldn’t see anything. It was so dark. The cold was being replaced with numbness, and Jisung felt his legs give one last weak kick, before his eyes were too heavy to keep open. 

He closed them, and sighed. 

Damn it. He wasn’t gonna get to be hockey captain after all. He hoped Minho didn’t cry about him. 

That would suck.

**Author's Note:**

> well here are the TWS: Drowning, Major Character Death
> 
> This guy's not a horror fic, but I'm still putting it in the unusual occurances series. That's kind of my "major character death" zone. idk. Here I am writing this instead of updating any of the other things I write. If you desire spooks, and like either NCT or Ateez, check out the rest of this series. I'm rather proud of 2 and 3.  
> Cool. if you liked, drop a comment or a kudos, I love to hear what you guys think of thingss.  
> Find me on insta: @that_is_shocking  
> Find me on tumblr: @that-is-shocking
> 
> Lots of love, stay safe and healthy~~~  
> -Alex


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